Rep. Gohmert: ‘It’s Time for the American People to Get Outraged’

(CNSNews.com) – Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) said Thursday that ‘It’s time for the American people to get outraged,” after the Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act mandate on all Americans to purchase health or pay a tax.

The Texas Republican congressman and former judge also said Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan “may need to be impeached” if she lied about her involvement in the legal defense of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) -- otherwise known as Obamacare—when she was Solicitor General in 2010.

“It’s greatly disappointing because obviously the Supreme Court they said by their verdict, by their opinion that when the administration and the president himself and all of those he trusts repeatedly said this is not a tax, the Supreme Court is saying, ‘You people are a bunch of fools,’” Gohmert said on the steps of the Supreme Court just after the ruling was announced.

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“‘Of course you should have known they lied when they said what they did to get this bill passed. Of course it’s a tax. Don’t listen to what they say, listen to what we say,’” he said.

“It’s time for the American people to get outraged,” Gohmert added.

“And I think it’s time now especially that this opinion is out to look and see whether Justice Kagan lied in order to get on the Supreme Court,” he said. “If Attorney General [Eric] Holder is refusing to answer questions about her role in this case, in this legislation because she may need to be impeached if she lied to get on the court.”

CNSNews.com asked Gohmert about the HHS mandate under Obamacare that requires insurance plans to cover sterilizations, contraceptives and abortifacients and will go into effect on Aug. 1.

CNSNews.com asked, “The preventative services mandate stands, so the funding for HHS after Sept. 30, will Congress permit the funding to implement the HHS mandate?”

“Well, we’re going to have to wait and see I’ve got to read the opinion, but I know it’s a great day for Anthony Weiner, who pushed so hard to get this bill through and then pushed to get New York a waiver, for [House Minority Leader Nancy] Pelosi [D-Calif.], for all those who crammed this bill down our throats and said it was so critical and so important all Americans needed it and then showed their absolute cynicism by pushing to get waivers for people that they cared about,” he said.

“This administration granting waivers over and over showed this is not a good bill for America and it also shows us we’ve got some work to do with the Supreme Court because obviously there are real problems and they cannot take a President at his word when he says this is not a tax,” Gohmert said.

A continuing resolution that was passed last December to keep the government funded will expire on Sept. 30, 2012. The House and Senate will have to pass another CR to keep the government running when FY 2013 begins on Oct. 1

Throughout the healthcare debate, President Barack Obama repeatedly said the individual mandate is not a tax. On Thursday Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for a 5-4 majority, upheld the mandate as constitutional under the federal government’s taxing authority.

In his opinion, Roberts said: “The Federal Government does not have the power to order people to buy health insurance. Section 5000A would therefore be unconstitutional if read as a command. The Federal Government does have the power to impose a tax on those without health insurance. Section 5000A is therefore constitutional, because it can reasonably be read as a tax.”

In 2010, Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee sent then-Solicitor General Elena Kagan a series of written questions examining the issue of how she would handle recusing herself from cases she might have been involved in as solicitor general if she were confirmed to the Supreme Court.

The senators asked Kagan if she had ever been asked her opinion regarding the merits, or underlying legal issues, in Florida’s lawsuit challenging Obamacare, to which Kagan answered “No” in her written response.

However, a Justice Department memo released to CNSNews.com from a Freedom of Information Act request shows that two months before the Judiciary Committee Republicans asked Kagan these questions her top deputy, Neal Katyal, had written to her informing that she had “substantially participated” in Golden Gate Restaurant Association v. San Francisco -- a case that Kagan’s own office tied to Obamacare.

Attorney General Holder has refused to provide written testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee in response to questions about Kagan’s involvement in Obamacare.